"Remembering Bowl Games"

Do you remember when you would wake up New Year's Day after a night of celebrating and do nothing but sit and watch college football bowl games all day long. The morning would start "drinking a hair of the dog that bit ya" switching back and forth between the Cotton Bowl Parade , where it seemed like it was always cold as hell, and sunny Pasadena Calif. Then as the parades ended, you would grab a quick shower, ice down some cold ones, makes sure there were plenty of snacks and not move except for an occasional "pee break". Ahhh, those were the days.
First the Cotton Bowl, usually with a local favorite from the then Big-Eight and some other major school, possibly Notre Dame.
Next came the Rose Bowl featuring usually USC, UCLA, or another great Pac-8 school against a powerhouse from the Big-Ten. The half-time shows were always great particularly when the fans at the Rose Bowl would make different designs with colored placards they would hold on certain commands.
You might grab a sandwich or two and grab a look at the Sugar Bowl. Usually a team from the SEC, which everyone thought was alien because these weren't the bigee conferences.
Then finally, the Orange Bowl. If the national champion hadn't been decided by now, all eyes were glued to what was probably going to be a thriller with OU, or Nebraska dominating the Orange Bowl for decades. Yeah, those were the good old days.
Now, we have every bowl game  from the Continental Tire Bowl to the MPC Computer Bowl. Teams that are 6-5 are playing teams that are 5-6. And the Orange Bowl doesn't even come on until Jan. 4.

"Almost back to normal"

It's not that I don't enjoy the holidays, I guess I just am becoming an "old fart". We did have a good time having the grandkids over although we found candy-cane sticky hand prints all over the place. Pattye even found them inside her glass-walled shower. Hmmmm, I wonder how those got there?? We did have a chance to get with the Williams clan on Sunday over at Laura's house. I was very successful in trying every food item that was offered, except for the Costa Rican banana leaf-wrapped tamalies. Clark tried them and said they were pretty good.
Anyway, one more holiday (New Years) to get through and we can get back to a normal routine.

"Happy Holidays"

I hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays. I know for some of my friends and family they had a hard time getting out of airports and off highways, but they did arrive safely.
As usual, Pattye and I worked Christmas morning making sure the carriers got the DMN delivered. We had Christmas with Kelly, Kassidy and Jeremy and the grandkids Lisa and Caleb.
Jeff spent Christmas in San Marcos with friends and Chris and Josey went out to San Diego to visit Courtney and Andy.
We will be going to Laura's home in Hurst tomorrow to celebrate the Holidays with Pattye's family.

"Snow, Snow, Snow"

For those of us living in the warm-weather states be thankful you are not in Ohio. Here's a picture of my bro' Dave this week in Springfield, Ohio, where they are scheduled to get 20" of snow as well as -15 degrees (that's cold) temperature. Here's a link of some more pictures of the Kender's in Springfield

Neat Link for Newsies and all of you other folks

I copied this pretty cool link from my favorite blog atD Magazine of Front Pages of newspapers from all over the word.

My Christmas present to all of you.....

My present to all of you is this...I am giving you advice. Yes, that's it, but it is priceless. The advice is stop whatever you are doing right now and back up your hard drive. For years I have been told to do it and periodically I get around to burning a handful of directories (oops, sorry Folders, old DOS days), but this week it finally happened and I, or at least Pattye, is paying the price.
It looks, however, that my good friend Clint McCarty is going to be able to get back a lot of the data with some software he was able to download. And, I suggest you back up your Address book and Favorite Places.

Anyone needing any kind of computer assistance I suggest you contact Clint. His rates are reasonable and can solve most any hardware or software problems.
He is one of the gurus associated with MyDistrict.net

Thanks, Clint

Always a newsworthy story--- Journalism 101

Man bites dog Ouch!!!!

Where in the hell have I been?"

Well, in addition to this being a busy time with the DMN, Pattye decided to carpet the entire house. As many of you know we work out of the house, so it has been monumental in moving things from one room to another. First, was the office in which we installed a separate flooring because of all of our traffic in there, so we had to shut down and work out of the kitchen for a couple of days. Right now the office looks like this .

This week they are working in the "Music Room" and it looks likes this . Plus we have Christmas to attend to and after that we will finish the rest of the house.

Anyway, here are a couple of juicy links to keep you going.

Tomato Prices Sky High

What's up with tomato prices? Ate at a restaurant we frequent "Nikki's" in Richardson and a sign said "No tomatoes served until further notice". Seems they are on such a close profit margin that they can't serve tomatoes on burgers. Stopped by Tom Thumb and saw that tomatoes were $3.69 per lb. Have contacted Bill Riley, VP Sales and Marketing at California Sun Dry Tomatoes to get the skinny.

News Briefs

Poor Table Manners Lead to Stabbings


"Once again, I think alcohol was involved."

How to Survive Thanksgiving Overeating

or try this

Coffee Enema

"Jacko in the news"

At the Ripping Point

Eric Celeste of theDallas Observer offers a lengthy and detailed look at the latest with the DMN.

"Strange, but true"

'Blessed' Sandwich Back on eBay


I have some leftover pizza that looks like Rosie!!

More DMN stuff:

NEWS FIRES OFF PREEMPTIVE MEMO

Will be waiting at the news rack for this item and will report results

Kmart buying Sears

K-Mart never had appliances and had no reputation for service," said Kurt Barnard, an independent retail analyst. "That's an honor that belongs to Sears. And Kmart has reputation for low prices, which Sears never has had."


Does this mean now K-Mart will now have appliances and still no service, or will Sears still have appliances but now no service????????

Clinton's library

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Whether Bill Clinton's presidential library breaks the mold by drawing more than 300,000 visitors a year and driving central Arkansas' economy, only time will tell.


I can't wait to see the "Blue Dress" " exhibit.

Larry Powell's "Pets"

Since Larry Powell's unexpected exit from the DMN, his enjoyable "Pets and Leisure"column will no longer appear, see: Changes in your newspaper . You can still find some of his enjoyable features at Read Larry Powell .


I intend to start, although without the same skill as Larry, a similar fun-reading "Front Page News in 19__" as I make a weekly trip to the archives at the library. Larry is sorely missed from the Metro section. Also, since Bill Deore, the award-winning editorial cartoonist, has also met the same fate, anyone with any kind of drawing ability is encouraged to send their creations to me so we can have something other than non-relevant syndicated crap.

Dazed and Wondering

Watched a DVD of "Dazed and Confused" last night and am wondering if the 70's is when everything started to go to hell. For those of you who haven't seen this film made in 93', it centers around "The last day of the school year for the Class of 76". Mindless babble from incoming freshmen and seniors who spend their days and nights getting dope, getting drunk and not getting laid. There was no plan for tomorrow.
For those of us who grew up in the 60's, although we did some of the same things didn't we at least have some sort of direction. Even in the great classic "American Graffiti" the days and nights were spent getting drunk and trying to get laid (grass hadn't quite made the "hip" scene yet) but they all had jobs and although disenchanted they were at least motivated.

I guess my rant is "bad behavior is acceptable as long as you have a plan for tomorrow, even though it might just be to get high, get drunk and try to get laid".

Start your week with fun

Ready to start surfing? Then start your week off with a little eye-hand coordination with flysui .
Guaranteed to make you hungry for some "flied rice" by lunchtime.

More Krystal news.....

Ed Stout writes.........I got through law school on Krystal burgers. I ate plenty of them and thought of White Castle as well.



And this from a attorney who graduated in the top of his class at Law School !

White Castle the breakfast of champions and scholars.

Head of world's largest gay church resigns

By STEPHANIE SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News
Michael Piazza has resigned as dean of Cathedral of Hope, the world's largest gay and lesbian church, to lead a nonprofit, social justice activist group sponsored by the church.

"As a gay person who has been in love with the same man for 24 years, I am sick and tired of my relationship being used as a threat to turn out right-wing voters," Mr. Piazza said in the letter. "The fight for justice cannot wait."

Cheney Visits Hospital for Tests

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a history of heart attacks, went to a Washington hospital on Saturday after experiencing shortness of breath but later left for home and said he was fine.


According to sources, Cheney later issued a statement through his spokesman Sen. Patrick Leahy saying, either "f--- off" or "go f--- yourself."


Cheney would not confirm using the word.
"That's not the kind of language I usually use," the vice president said in an interview.
When asked if he had cursed at Leahy, Cheney answered, "Probably."
"Do you have any regrets?," Neil Cavuto asked.
"No. I said it," the vice president responded.

Why Tutankhamen died

Egypt plans to X-ray the mummy of Tutankhamen to find out what killed the king who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and died while only a teenager. "We will know about any diseases he had, any kind of injuries and his real age,"



My guess is that there was "alcohol involved

Re: Krystal's

A "White Castle" - starved reader says she has had to do without her "sliders" for a number of years, but uses this recipe .

Krystal's

Many of you in the Midwestern States and the South may have taken an institution for granted over the years. This week, a Dallas suburb opened the first Krysal's in Texas. As you can read in the following paragraph from the Dallas Morning News, Krystal's has been accepted with open mouths. (For those of you who don't know about Krystal's it is the cousin of the great "White Castle " burger.)


"Some drove 45 miles to wait nearly two hours in line for the famous bite-size burger, and others drove off after waiting awhile, but nothing was going to make Carol Gill budge and forgo the chance to taste her beloved treat at Carrollton's first Krystal.
"Are you kidding?" said Ms. Gill, 54, when asked why she drove from Fort Worth to Carrollton. "We've waited 12 years for this."
Ms. Gill waited in line for more than an hour at lunchtime. "

Many times on my ventures back to Dayton, one of the first stops I made upon arriving was to the White Castle to get my fix. Now I can sit back and enjoy them in my own backyard.


Yes, I think we have finally achieved perfection in Texas.